How To Travel The Long And Hard Road To Identity Theft Recovery
In case you are wondering about how long the process of identity theft recovery can take, you would be surprised to learn that it can take as many as two years if you are lucky and as many as six years if you are not so lucky. Furthermore, according to certain figures that has been made available by Private Rights Clearinghouse that is a consumer organization (non-profit), the average time taken in identity theft recovery works out to be about one hundred and seventy hours.
Costly Business
Identity theft recovery can also end up costing the victim a fair sum of money that could be in the region of one thousand five hundred dollars (according to Federal Trade Commission) and what's worse is the fact that identity theft recovery can also end up being an especially painful experience.
In fact, the following steps will be needed when you become involved with identity theft recovery and the first step obviously is to obtain a police report and to also find out whether your identity has been stolen and subsequently been used in any kind of unlawful activity. Armed with a police report, you will then need to contact numerous organizations as well as agencies including the likes of the Federal Trade Commission and Social Security Administration, major credit bureaus as well as the Passport Office and Post Office and even the Department of Motor Vehicles and finally, the Medical Information Bureau.
You also need to be aware of your rights with regard to identity theft and if you go according to Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1992, you should not be prevented from being able to find out what is on your file and if any information is being used to prosecute you. Identity theft recovery also means having to ensure that your credit report shows that your identity has been stolen and a fraud alert is flagged on the report.
However, one thing that is not recommended when you are engaged in the process of identity theft recovery and that is make use of companies that call themselves credit repair companies because these companies can compound identity fraud rather than eliminate identity fraud.
You must also make it a point to inform your bankers, utility companies about your identity theft mainly because it is common practice of identity thieves to open a telephone account or buy cable TV or even establish credit with utility companies on the strength of stolen identities. In addition, you may even require being counseled in order to regain your shattered confidence.
The bottom line is that identity theft recovery means having to spend years to get back your identity while also spending a lot of money and undergoing pain and stress. However, the whole process can be made lighter to bear provided you follow the outlined steps and also are able to get support from those close to you.
